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Brookbottom Methodist (School) Chapel,
Brook Bottom Road,
Mellor, Derbyshire.

Cemeteries

We believe the Chapel did NOT have a graveyard.

Note: any church within an urban environment may have had its graveyard closed after the Burial Act of 1853. Any new church built after that is unlikely to have had a graveyard at all.

Church History

This Place of Worship was founded in 1874, but we understand it was closed by 2011.

Brookbottom hamlet is in the invidious situation of lying partly in the parish of Mellor, and partly in the parish of New Mills. The brook, which flows east to west, into the river Goyt, traditionally marked the boundary between the two, and when Mellor was transferred to Cheshire in 1936, it also marked the county boundary. In 1990, however, following a Boundary Commission review, all except two of the properties on the north side of the brook were transferred back to Derbyshire, the exceptions being High Cliff Farm and The Cottage.

Thus the Chapel, although on the north side of the brook, and originally within the parish of Mellor, might now be considered as within the boundaries of New Mills.

It was built in 1874, but a report on the Brook Bottom Conservation Area on Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council website indicates it replaced an earlier building. It is rectangular, having a 3 bay front, with a central entrance, on either side of which is a round arched window, containing etched glass, featuring a cross, and a fleur-de-lys motif, enclosed in a frame, surrounded by a scallop design. The sides are also of 3 bays, with tall rectangular windows; and there is a small extension to the rear.

The following notice in The London Gazette of 13th May 1898 (p.2990) recorded its registration for marriages:

NOTICE is hereby given that a separate building named Primitive Methodist School Chapel situated at Brookbottom in the civil parish of Mellor in the county of Derby in the registration district of Hayfield being a building certified according to law as a place of meeting for religious worship, was on the sixth day of May 1898, duly registered for solemnizing marriages therein, pursuant to the Act of 6th and 7th Wm. 4, c.85. Dated 6th May 1898.

It is not known for certain when it was closed - certainly before November 2011, when an Estate Agent's website recorded it For Sale by the Methodist Church, with the potential to convert for residential use. The notice of cancellation of its registration for marriages (as "Methodist School Chapel, Brookbottom, Mellor") appeared in the Gazette almost 3 years later, on 15th July 2014 (p.13834).

I have been unable to discover whether any of the Chapel's registers (marriages, or baptisms) have survived, but the "copies" of marriage certificates held by Derbyshire Registrars are known to cover "Brookbottom Chapel", 1898-1902, and "Brookbottom Methodist School Chapel", 1924-1948.

Denomination

Now or formerly Primitive Methodist.

If more than one congregation has worshipped here, or its congregation has united with others, in most cases this will record its original dedication.

Maps

This Chapel was located at OS grid reference SJ9856486442. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• Brookbottom Methodist (School) Chapel, Mellor shown on a Google Map.
• Places of Worship in Mellor shown on a Google Map.
• Streetmap.co.uk (arrow on map shows the Place of Worship's location) (verified 2018-10-15)
• Bing (Ordnance Survey option) (verified 2018-10-13)
• Bing Maps ('Bird's Eye' View) (verified 2018-10-15)
• Ordnance Survey "getamap" (NB some of the 'Change Map' options may require a subscription) (verified 2018-10-15)
• OpenStreetMap (Maps © OpenStreetMap contributors, CC-BY-SA) (verified 2018-10-15)
• A Vision of Britain Through Time - useful for Boundary Changes (verified 2018-10-15)
• www.magic.gov.uk (Modern Maps with various overlays) (verified 2018-10-15)

Resources

I have found many websites of use whilst compiling the information for this database. Here are some which deserve mention as being of special interest for Mellor, and perhaps to Local History and Places of Worship as a whole.

• The Local Government website of Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council (null) (verified 2018-10-26)
• Notices of Civil Registration of Places of Worship for marriages are published in the London edition of The Gazette. Hint: search for registrations from 1998 by choosing 'Church' notices, and the option 'Registration for solemnising marriage'. (verified 2018-12-11)

The above links were selected and reviewed at the time I prepared the information, but please be aware their content may vary, or disappear entirely. These factors are outside my control.